Realisations
by bookluver52
Summary: When Amy and Ian are trapped, they begin to talk. And eventually, realisations come to the surface. Great authors wrote this series; authors I can only hope to be. Not mine!


"We're dead. Why did we even take this mission? We'll never see Dan, or Nellie, or Natalie, or Sinead, or Hamilton, or Saladin, or Fiske ever again, because we'll be dead, and they'll never find our bodies, and they'll decay here forever and ever. We'll never see the light of day again, and we'll die all alone in this cold, desolate, dank, dark dungeon with who knows what kind of stuff down here..."

"Amy."

"What were we thinking? Were we absolutely insane? It was a suicide mission. I can't believe we didn't see it. And now we're trapped in here forever and ever, and nobody's ever going to get us out, and the only people who might possibly find us are Vespers, and then they'll probably kill us because we're Cahills, and why didn't I just listen to Dan and take the million dollars and walk? Why did I have to be so thoughtful of what Grace would have wanted? Why couldn't I just have lived a life where the hardest thing were exams and finding a job? But no..."

"Amy."

"I couldn't do that, and now I'm going to die without ever seeing my little brother's face. I'm not going to be buried. Nobody will ever come to my funeral, because they can't hold one, and my spirit will be trapped on earth forever and ever. I'll never be married, and I'll never have kids, and I won't ever publish my book, and...and..."

"Amy! We're going to get out of here alive!"

"No, we're not, Ian. I never fell in love! The best thing I had was Evan, and he was a total waste!"

"I fell in love. But I'll die seeing her face."

"In your mind? That's so sweet. Who is she?"

"Look into that puddle, Amy. There on the floor. Who do you see?"

"My face, filled with dread because we're going to die, alone and cold, in a dark, dank dungeon filled with who knows what because we weren't smart enough to see the trap?"

"I see the love of my life," Ian whispered.

Amy looked up at him. "You don't love me."

"Are you sure? Because I can't think of another name for this feeling. My heart beats faster when you're near, and my mind goes blank. You touch my arm, and all I can think of is taking you into my arms and holding you close to me, and feeling your heat. You laugh, and all I want to do is hear you laugh every single day. I want to hold you, and give you flowers, and do everything with you. I want to see you grow old, side by side with me. Forever and ever. If that's not love, then what is?"

"If you loved me, then you wouldn't have left me to die in a cave."

"Do you know what I thought of when I saved you? The first thing ever after I tackled you to the ground?" Amy opens her mouth, but Ian keeps on going. "She's lovely. Lovely."

They stand there in silence, before Ian starts again. "Kabras...aren't raised to feel love. Natalie and I...we weren't taught to show our emotions. Rather, we were punished when we did. How was I to know that the fast beating in my chest was love, not a drug you slipped me? They tell you that love isn't taught, but it is. And if you never had love in your life, how are you supposed to tell it apart from anything else?" He looks in her eyes. Deep in them, there's some kind of emotion. But what is it?

"I grew up with love around me. My parents loved me more than anything else. Grace loved me more than anything else. Dan loves me more than anything else. I never had a time in my life that I wasn't surrounded by people who cared for me. Except for the Clue hunt." She shies away from his gaze. "You don't understand, Ian. _Everybody_ hated us. They were all out to get me and Dan. I went from a home which, admittedly, wasn't the best, but had people there who loved me, to a place where everybody was out to get me. The world is cold, Ian. You learned that before I did." She pauses. "You don't see the look in Dan's eyes, Ian. You don't see the darkness that envelopes his whole aura. I knew him before, Ian. I saw him, in Cairo, going around, naming the different things inside the hotel. But if you look at him now, you can't see the person he used to be. All you see is darkness. I look at him, Ian, and wonder where my brother went. He's changed, Ian. It scares me at times." She stares at him beseechingly, begging him to understand.

"I see it too. I kept tabs on him during the Clue hunt. You were our main focus. Do you think I don't see the cold, calculating person he's become? My mother was like that, too, Amy. She was detached from us. My advice to you? Bring him back now, before it's too late. Clutch him to you, and tell him how much he means to you, Amy, before he's gone. He _will _be gone, Amy. Save him, before it's too late. Save **me** before it's too late." He stops, willing her mentally to understand. "I'm too much like my mother, Amy. I can feel her at times, within me. The power...I want more. It's never enough. I always want more. I think of her, when I'm making our next plans. What would Mum do? I don't want to be like her, Amy. I don't want anybody to be like my mother." He chokes up here, unwilling to go any farther past the line that he's drawn to keep him from breaking.

"You're not your mother, Ian. Do you know why? You love me. You love Natalie, too. Your mother doesn't know how to love. Your mother didn't want to know how to love. You have that for you, Ian. Don't let it go. Don't ever let it go." She's turned away from him, now, prodding the wall. "We have to get back, Ian. I have to save my brother, and you have to save Natalie. We can't die now. I can't leave him sinking into the darkness, Ian, and you can't leave Natalie to die at the hands of the Vespers." He joins her in prodding the wall, and together, they push and prod until a small section crumbles, and bright light streams in through the small hole. They push again, and again, until they can fit through.

As the helicopter that was waiting for them at the pickup point drops them off at the dropoff point, Amy turns to Ian.

"By the way? I love you too." And then she kisses him, and it's just like he imagined it would be, with fireworks, and she's an amazing kisser, and he just never wants it to end, and then-

"Amy? Amy! Dan! Dan! It's Amy and Ian! They're back! They're not dead!" Nellie rushes out, and hugs Amy tightly, all the while chanting over and over like a mantra, "They're not dead, they're not dead, they're not dead, they're not dead, they're not dead..."

Dan rushes out of the headquarters. "Amy!" He runs out. "Amy! I thought you were...They found the...We were so...I kept on thinking...You're alive!" He hugs her now, tears streaming out of his eyes. He's shaking, and sobbing, but this is perfect, and she just wants to keep it this way forever. "You're alive...You're alive!"

"Dan? Come on, we have to talk." Amy leads him into a conference room.

"What's wrong, Amy? Did they feed you poison? Are you going to die?"

"No, Dan. I'm fine. But...you're not."

"I'm fine, see? No scrapes, cuts, burns, poisons, infections..."

"Not physically, Dan. You're not fine mentally."

"I'm not pyscho, thank you very much!"

"You're not pyscho. I just...I see you retreating into yourself every single day, and it worries me, because you're my only brother, and...you're all I have left, Dan. I promised Mom and Dad I would look after you. And if you keep on going the way you do...you're going to get killed. Or kill other people. And then I would have broken my promise. And I would have lost a brother. You have to stop, Dan. You have to stop now." There's a broken silence, before a sob comes from Dan.

"Dan-"

"I keep on seeing you dead, Amy! You and Nellie, and Fiske, and McIntyre. I see everybody dead, and I'm the only one alive. I can't see you die, Amy. I can't see you die, or Nellie or Fiske or McIntyre. I can't see anyone die. And nobody would die if the Vespers were gone. I keep on seeing them...I thought about using the formula...I got all the ingredients and everything...but then, then I couldn't. I just couldn't. But what else can I do? I'm just Dan. I'm just a little Cahill orphan."

"You can do whatever you want, Dan. You can accomplish whatever you need to without violence. That's why we're Madrigals, right? So we can spread peace throughout the world?" At this, Dan gives a small smile. "You're my brother, Dan. Doesn't that count for anything? And you mean much more to a lot of people than just a little Cahill orphan. Like, Natalie, for example, I heard that she likes heroic stuff like winning a Clue hunt." She nudges Dan, a smile on her lips.

"Ew! Natalie? EW!"

"That's the Dan I know and love."

"EW!"

"Come on, Dan. Let's go.


End file.
